Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-06-10
A TEXAN ABROAD.
A Trip from Fort Worth to Tacoma,
W. T.-Notes from q Tray
eIer's Journal.
How the Rich Valleys of California and the
Scenery on the Northern Pacific
Impress a Texan.
corresnondence of the Gazette.

nv pen can tell the people OF Texas what
Fort Worth is. She has written her own
history. A bright future evidently awaits
her,
Fort Worth to Big Springs l saw
little else except wide reaches of prairie,
or rocky hills covered with a stunted un-
derbrush. The surface of the earth was
lust beginning to turn green from the re-
cent rains. What an arid desert this
must have been when the dToUth was in
full blast. Weatherford, Abilene, Colo
RADIO City and Biz Springs, the
largest places between Fort Worth and Ell
Paso, seemed to have considerable life re-
naming, still they showed unmistakable
signs of our Texas drouth. From Mid
land to El Paso nothing but cacti, sage
and chaparral brush and dWarfed mes
quite were left to relieve the monotony
of this arid waste.
Ell Paso, a semi Mexican town of about
5000 people, is beautifully situated in the
valley of the Rio Grsnde. What beau
tiful sight-helds OF grain Just beginning
to ripen; vineyards, orchards and gar
dens of rare fruits and flowers. Never
till then could l realize what GASES meant
to the weary traveller. FL PasO to Dem
ing, Deming TO Tuscon, TuscOn to Fort
Yuma-the hottest place in the
United State5-all WAS one wide
waste Of sand. One or two low
sun burnt ridges OF mountains, q
few tufts OF bunch grass, scat
tered thickets Of chaparral and mesquite
were all there was TO relieve the mo-
notony OF the waste, except q few Gotten
wood trees planted around each railroad
water tank. Fort ana resembles Ell
Paso in being situated in beautiful val
lev, ct the union CT the ella and Colorado
rivers. At this point the United States
has signal station: also the territorial
penitenrsrY is situated here. We had
hoped 10 come into Gland that bloom
eth as q rose" Wnen we reached Cali
fornia; but no such good fortune awaited
US. Two hundred and fifty miles OF
burning sand lay between Us and the land
of perpetual spring" Crossing the San
Bernsrdina mountains at GOrgonla Pass
with sDOW-Capped mountains on either
side, we came into the beautiful valley Of
the San Gabriel. Travelling down this
valley for about one hundred miles
we came TO the Los Angeles. This
valley appeared as an extended park.
Never had l beheld such beautiful or
chards and vineyards and gardens. Los
Angeles is not only one Of the Wealthiest
cities of Southern California, but is one
of the most beautiful as well. The prices
in real estate run very high. Parties not
wishing TO dispose Of their property and
afraid to set any price on it for fear their
proposition will be aCcepted-matters not
how exorbitsnt the prices may be. Leav-
ing Los Angeles about dusk we could see
but little Of the country As we crossed
the mountains the conductor kindly offer
ed TO show US the "loop," one Of the most
remarkable fea-s CT civil engineering TIE
world has ever witnessed. Locomotives
are changed S. This point. -Four years since
while making this change q heavy loaded
pa ssgnger train EaC its brakes to give
Way, and thus a cargo Of human lives
went rushing down this terrible grade 81
q terrific rate Of speed. How many lives
were lost l an unable to say, yet the
death rate WIS appalling. From this
point 10 San Francisco We travel down
the San JuOquln valley. Ii Is in this valley
that CalIfOrn.a's great wheat fields are
situated, some OF them containing as
much IS 10000 acres. These lands can
be purchased, by taking the entire farm,
from - 80 to $50 per acre. Let these
SyndiCdtes be broken up; these vast areas
of land be subdivided into ten acre and
twenty acre lots, and artesian wells be
placed on each quarter section, and you
Increase the value Of the land from ten to
100 fold. Everything viii grow IN this
vsuey that will grow in the San Gabriel
valley, and the san Gabriel valley is the
garden spot of California
Reaching Oakland about I p. m: we
were ferried across San Francisco b3y to
san Francisco.
!
fortune TO visit the panorama of the
battle OF Waterloo, view seen but once,
but so indeG0ly impressed upon the
memory as TO be never forgotten; the
Palace hotel, fire and earthquake proof
building of 100 rooms, elegantly fur
nished, and perhaps the most magnificent
hotel in the United States. The Golden
Gate park, park perhaps not so large is
Shsw's garden of st. Louis or Humboldt
park Of Chicago, but TO me, one far more
beautiful and grand. From the Golden
Gate park we went out TO the Ocean
Beach and the Seal Rocks. Why need |
try to tell Of the effect which the Pacific,
with its awful sublimity, produced on
me. No artist can picture TO the
soul the grandeur of q mountain
scene, o, the Vastness of the mighty
waters of the deep" One can feel it,
but not describe it; can feel it only by
being an eye witness. Right in the
heart OF this beautiful city is Q canker
gnawing 81 It's very vitals. China town
The curse Of the Golden Gate City! SO
densely populated is it, SO filthy, that
the atmosphere itself seems pregnant
with disease One needs only to walk
through one of their narrow alleys, used
as 3 market place, &c visit their gambling
hells or opium dens, TO be so thoroughly
sickened and diSgusted as to wish no
repetition of The scene.
Wednesday, 10 g. n, in company with
loo others, on board steamship Oregon,
we left San Francisco, bound for Port
land, Ore At first everyone seemed so
happy, so buoyant. Two hours later
we look again. We see women,
deathly pale, reeling to their bsrths;
strong men almost as pale as a corpse.
By p. N. there were not d dozen who
hsd not succumbed 10 the fearful pitch
ing Of the steamer. A. IL D. m. it was
difficult to stand though holding fast to
the railing. Next morning the ocean was |
SIS calm and smooth as q crystal lake. |
Upon hearing the cry of seals! sharks, |
whales. every passenger who had got |
over his seasickness would rush on deck |